Kurt Cobain: The Rise & Fall Of Grunge Music

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Kurt, Eddie, Chris, and company were definitely the toast of the music industry. Regulars on MTV, grunge music had definitely put the '80s sound to rest. But how alternative can you be when you are on NBC's SNL ?

Although all of these bands took harsh criticism, many showed integrity. Pearl Jam stopped making videos all together. Nirvana kept trekking along, following Nevermind with In Utero almost 2 years later. But things were different, very different.

Cobain was commanding the following that paralleled the Morrison's, Joplin's and Hendrix's. Living in the '90s also added an extra dimension as the media became omnipresent. While Cobain had never sought the role, he, even more so than Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, became the symbol of a generation. The media criticized him, his fans worshipped him, but no one understood him.

dob 02/20/67 - dod 04/05/94

A few months after the critically acclaimed In Utero , Kurt Cobain was found dead in his house. As expected, an outpour of tears, sadness and confusion reigned among fans. As expected, most of his critics rushed to add that Cobain, very much like the movement he represented, was unhappy and ungrateful for life. Then, it was no surprise that when life was taken away from him, few in the media offered much compassion.

suicide, murder... overkill

Initially, most indications pointed to a probable suicide. It was no hidden fact that Cobain could have been happier. His songwriting reflected his state of mind, which was unstable at best. Stone Temple Pilots' frontman Weiland was another recovering drug addict that was a mess. Years before, Mother Love Bone's frontman also overdosed. The list of messed up musicians who had either succumbed to drugs or suicide was staggering in the industry.

Cobain had a daughter with Hole front woman Courtney Love. While she was one of the few to go along with the conclusion that Cobain had taken his own life, many questions lingered. Doubts about the validity of his suicide note, the credit card use before and after Cobain's death, his excessively high injection of heroin, and many other factors would make any law enforcer have some serious doubts.

Moreover, while Cobain was clearly troubled, many doubt that he would have killed himself. Many, including Tom Grant, the California state private investigator and former detective with the LA County Sheriff's Department.

Grant was hired by Courtney Love to locate her husband after he left a drug rehab center in Marina Del Rey, California. While the police immediately concluded "suicide", he wasn't so sure. Tom Grant's work and research was extensively documented, and various others have raised interesting questions. While Courtney Love has done her best to silence suspicious claims, you can judge for yourself: http://www.thegrid.net/tomgrant/main.html